CULTURE

ARTSCAPE
Real strength lies in women
Ravi Bhatia

Woman’s Strength - a painting by Ramesh Garg.

Renowned artist Ramesh Garg’s exhibition of paintings will be held at Shri Dharani Art Gallery Triven Kala Sangam from September 29 to October 8.Depicting separate strengths of ‘Men and Women’, the artist has composed many paintings. One of these shows, ‘A man holding a woman in his strong fist’ and second one shows ‘Man standing on the belly of a woman’. While the woman strength is exhibited through the painting showing ‘A woman holding a strong horse in her fist’ and in another one ‘Woman riding on a Man’s head’.

A graduate of J J School of Art, Mumbai, Ramesh Garg was born in Ajmer, Rajasthan. He is one of the senior most artists of the country who established himself in the field of modern art world in 1964, when his first exhibition of paintings was opened at Taj Art Gallery in Mumbai. This was the time when eminent Indian artists like K. K. Hebbar, K. H. Ara, M. F. Hussain, S. H. Raza, F. N. Suza, Akbar Padmsee and Gitonde were dominating the field of modern art in India. World legends Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Salvador Dali were those who inspired Garg most.

Garg has been honoured by Bombay Art Society and awarded several times by Rajasthan Lalit Kala Akademy, including the highest award ‘Kalavid’, a lifetime achievement award.

Throughout his 40 year long association with art, Garg experimented in cubism, expressionism, impressionism, abstract and collage. Garg received worldwide appreciation through his many exhibitions. His ‘Ek Chitrakar Ghode Pe Sawar’, came in for international acclaim the time of the first Gulf war.

Classical visual art has its own language e.g. it is enough to say that Garg speaks ‘Red with Black and White’ or ‘Blue with Yellow and Red’ and ‘Composition in tangent’ etc. A composer with knowledge of classical visual art can understand it very well. His attempts are not only to satisfy his own emotions but also to lead the art world ahead, specially where Picasso and Salvador Dali left it.

Photographic passion

A little known aspect of the eminent Kolkata-based industrialist, Mr B. K. Birla is his passion for photography. Right from his early days, Mr Birla has been clicking away at any given opportunity. A selection of the photographs are now at display at the Lalit Kala Akademi here, thanks to the efforts of the Birla Academy of Art and Culture, Kolkata. The exhibition of these selected photographs were inaugurated by Vasant Sathe in the presence of the industrial and art elite of the Capital.

PLAY TIME
Young theatre artists’ workshop

Sangeet Natak Akademi, national Akademi of music dance and drama, announced the successful culmination of a ten-week workshop, for the young theatre artists of North Zone, held at Sanskriti Kendra, here from 13 July to 22 September.

The workshop is part of a decade long programme initiated by the Akademi in the year 2001, to provide wholesome training and guidance to the new generation of theatre workers in different regions of the country. The objective of the workshop is to identify, support and make the theatre makers of the future and create a large resource base of educators and trainers in the field of theatre.

Sangeet Natak Akademi has envisaged a three phase training programme, first being for a month, second for three months and the third phase for a year in 2001. In the first phase, month-long workshops were held in each state of northern India, viz. Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttaranchal and Haryana and Union Territory of Chandigarh. The finest talent selected from the first phase of the workshops -a total of about 25 in number undertook training in the 10-week intensive workshop at Sanskriti Kendra, New Delhi.

“The three-phase plan of providing theatre education under eminent experts and practitioners of the art, to talented young persons across the country - many of them from smaller towns and semi-urban and rural areas, is one of the major initiatives of the Sangeet Natak Akademi undertaken in the recent years,” said Jayant Kastuar.

The secretary of the Sangeet Natak Akademi said, “We hope that when the first cycle of the three-phase programme is completed in all the zones, which may take about seven years, the country would have over a 100 new theatre makers of very high calibre,” he added.

Between 1983 to 1993, the Akademi had conducted a similar programme, aimed at identifying and promoting young theatre directors. The programme launched a number of talented theatre directors on the national stage, many of whom are eminent theatre makers today.

The workshop on theatre aims at integrated training for the students and does not restrict itself to the training of direction only. The programme is designed to cover various facets of theatre, such as acting, designing, lighting, music and other techniques and is interactive in nature.

Making Tihar inmates smile

Usha Uthap, Harshdeep and Raju Srivastava at the Tihar Jail Cultural Programme 2003.

IT was a ray of hope for the Tihar Jail inmates. The occasion being Tihar Jail Cultural Programme 2003, and a joint effort of the Tihar Prison Authorities and Malik Music Entertainer. The programme was held in Jail No 4 recently.

The Director-General (Prisons), Mr Ajay Agarwal, Jasmeet (Indi-popper of Joshilay Fame), acclaimed singer Usha Utthap, Comedian Raju Srivastava and singer Harshdeep, were among the gathering. Comedian Raja Srivastava captivated the inmates with his hilarious performance and gave them a reason to smile. Inmates were overjoyed with the presence of Usha Utthap and when she took the stage, it was a dream come true for many. Jasmeet, our very own Indi-popper of the Joshilay fame, stole the show with the Punjabi numbers. He sang ‘Muniya re muniya’, ‘Suno Gaur se duniya walo’. Jasmeet unveiled unlimited excitement with ‘Tujhe lage na nazaria’ and may more.

Jasmeet later said: “It was a pleasure singing at Tihar Jail and seeing the inmates enjoying made me happy. I was amazed by the enthusiasm of the inmates. I hope I get more opportunities to sing for a noble cause.”

Mr Agarwal said, “We work hard to rehabilitate so that after being released they become good citizens”. He also thanked Jasmeet, Usha Utthap, Raju Srivastava and Harshdeep for their presence.

MUSIC ZONE
Electrifying ‘Bijli’

India has become synonymous with the word ‘music’. It has long been known as the land of music and music lovers, where many famous music artistes have taken birth and done the country proud by captivating the whole world with their music. Many, who have been blessed with a unique voice, have specialised in the bhakti philosophy and have taken to singing bhajans. One such artist is Amerjeet Singh Bijli, who has become a well-known name not only in the field of commercial music but has also established his name in the field of devotional music.

Fond of listening to music and reading books since his childhood, Amerjeet Singh always wanted to be a singer. During his younger days, whenever he used to perform on any important event or function, people used to encourage him and tell him to go on a bigger platform. Initially, like all successful personalities, he too had to struggle, but later got the opportunity to sing in audio-video albums and on stage with some of the most popular playback singers in the country namely Kavita Krishnamurthy, Alka Yagnik, Kavita Paudwal, Richa Sharma, Vandana Vajpayi, Jaspinder Narula, Mahender Kapoor, Jaspal Singh among others. He has been performing with them all over India and abroad over the past twenty years.

By performing in countries like the UK, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Germany, Hong Kong and Singapore among others, Amerjeet Singh has amassed a huge fan following. He feels that nothing can beat the excitement of performing in his own country, but people in other countries are equally crazy about Indian music.

The love and encouragement shown by the people there, is the reason that Indian artists are compelled to perform there time and again. Music companies, like T-Series, Venus, BMB, to name a few, have released many of his albums. Lately, on the occasion of Navratras, T-Series has released one of his albums ‘Bhawan Par Chhaina Baje’. The album comprises eight bhajans, which are in the praise of the goddess and enhances her qualities.

Amerjeet has received many prestigious awards for his contribution to the music industry, Some of his awards include ‘Yadgare Rafi Award’, ‘Indo-Soviet Cultural Award’, ‘Sur Aaradhana Award’, ‘Shobhna Award’, ‘Stage promoters Award’, ‘Sangam Kala Award’, ‘Punjabi Kala Darpan’ Award and a special Award from former President Mr Shankar Dayal Sharma. In his own words, “Awards are a symbol of appreciation by the public. They provide a sense of satisfaction and makes one realise that their efforts are finally paying off.”

A film buff, Amerjeet Singh has also recorded a song for K. C. Bokadia’s BMB films.